Goettelmann Says He Will Return in 2011
by Corey McLaughlin | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
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All-time MLL goals leader Tim Goettelmann says he will likely donate his salary to his "Monster's Kids" charity again in 2011, when he returns for his 11th season with the Lizards. © John Strohsacker/LaxPhotos.com |
Even a Monster can have a change of heart.
Veteran Long Island Lizards attackman Tim Goettelmann, Major
League Lacrosse’s all-time leading goal scorer nicknamed "The
Monster" for his 6-4, 215-pound size, has decided to return for an
11th MLL season.
In the moments immediately following the
Lizards’ loss to the Chesapeake Bayhawks in the MLL
championship game Aug. 22, Goettelmann said he was leaning toward
retiring to make it easier to balance his full-time job and family
commitments.
But after speaking with his wife and thinking about the
disappointing end to the game -- Long Island lost, 13-9, after
being tied at 8 entering the fourth quarter -- he now says he needs
to come back to try for a championship in 2011.
He notified the MLL of his decision Monday, saying he wanted to
avoid a Brett Favre situation. Goettelmann also considered retiring
at the end of 2009, but decided to return.
“I can’t end on that game,” Goettelmann told LMO
Tuesday morning from his office at Hartan Brokerage in New York
City. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable with myself if I
didn’t play next year. And even if it doesn’t work out
halfway through the season or something, at least I continued
on.”
Goettelmann is the last remaining original Lizard, having been
with the team since the league’s first season in 2001. The
former Loyola All-American was the Lizards’ second-leading
scorer last season behind Matt Danowski. He is the MLL’s
all-time leader in goals (248), games played (122) and game-winning
goals (14). But Long Island hasn’t won a title since 2003,
when the Lizards beat the then-Baltimore Bayhawks. The drought
gnaws at Goettelmann, especially since they were so close this
season.
“I want to win a championship,” said Goettelmann,
whose 251 career regular season MLL goals are four more than
second-place Jesse Hubbard and 24 more than the next active player,
Kevin Leveille. “We haven’t won since 2003, which is a
long time ago. Had we won this year, I would have
retired.”
Goettelmann is a wholesale insurance broker in New York and
resides in Garden City on Long Island. He has two young kids and
another on the way with his wife, Lisa, who is due in February. The
addition of another child could affect his plans to play next
season, he acknowledges, but for now he’s decided to
return.
“I sit here in August and tell you I’m playing, but
we’ll have three kids under the age of 3 come February. And
training camps aren’t too long after that, which are three
weekends,” he said. “Things could change, but my mind
and body are telling me I have to get back.”
Another contributing factor to his return is the platform the MLL
gives for his charitable foundation, Monster’s Kids, which is
dedicated to supporting pediatric hospitals. The foundation has
raised more than $100,000 in the past two years, which included a
$12,000 donation from himself -- his 2010 MLL salary -- which he
gave to Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York. He was
named MLL Sportsman of the Year for the second straight season in
2010.
“I probably will play for free again and continue doing
that,” Goettelmann said, adding that plans are in the works
for donation campaigns in association with the Lizards and other
MLL players.
“It’s amazing what sports can do and how people
respond to an athlete that’s giving back,” he added.
“The perception with athletes is we’re selfish,
self-absorbed. I know that we’re so lucky to be playing
professional lacrosse.”
Which is why he’ll keep playing, for now.
